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From 50 Years Ago: Pavlovian Response
Vol VII, No 1 JANUARY 1, 1972
Pavlovian Response
There has been a brutish consistency about American actions in Indochina. Every threat to the American hold on Vietnam has been met by a military response. The challenge to the US position in Vietnam—or more accurately to the US-backed regimes in Saigon—has been political. The struggle has always been about how to influence and win the confidence of the people of Vietnam. On the American side this sensitive role has been left to be carried out by the fire-power of US and Saigon guns and planes—a notably blunt instrument for winning over people. To retain some semblance of leverage in Saigon, the Americans even extended the war into Cambodia in 1970. Not surprisingly, such a policy has led to a total loss of US influence, if there ever were any, among the people of the area.
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